September 11, 2008 - 15:43 AMT
To join NATO, Baku should either resolve Karabakh problem or forget it
To join NATO, a country is obliged to meet all conditions of the Alliance's Regulations.

"The aspirant country has first of all to resolve conflicts, if it experiences such. It refers both to Georgia, which 'resolved' the South Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts, and to Azerbaijan," Tevan Poghosyan, Executive Director of the Armenian Atlantic Association, told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"I think, Russian political scientists are quite right to say that if Azerbaijan wants to join NATO, it has either to resolve Karabakh problem or forget it. No progress has been fixed in talks. So, Azerbaijan can't follow the path of Georgia or Ukraine," he said.

The other day, Russian political scientist Alexey Makarkin said, "Let Georgia without South Ossetia and Abkhazia and then Azerbaijan without Nagorno Karabakh join NATO, nobody is stopping them. This will be the price of pleasure. And it's not Russia's fault."

"However, Karabakh is a painful problem for Azerbaijan, which will work to return the region at any price, including rapprochement with Russia," he said.